An owner of a local restaurant called me today telling me that he wanted to hire me to play piano in his restaurant, but wants me to only perform non-copyrighted music because he claimed that the authorities have recently informed him that he must pay ASCAP & BMI $200/month for live music performed of all 'copyrighted' songs.

From an entertainer's standpoint, I've never had a club owner bring this up to me this way before. I always thought that the commerical establishments I perform at (from clubs to nursing homes) pay a preset annual(?) royalty fee to cover copyrighted music performed by featured entertainers. Is this a correct assumption?

I realize that legally, all public performance of copyrighted music is subject to royalty payment, but suspect, because this law is not always strictly enforced, that some establishments simply ignore paying it altogether, unless they get caught.

What exactly is the law? Has anyone else ever had a club owner or establishment bring this up to you like this before?

Scott